Business As Usual
Posted by Michelle Moquin on January 29th, 2013
Good morning!
As usual the GOP is up to no good.
Virginia Redistricting 2013: State GOP Rams Bill Through Senate In Absence Of Democratic Sen. Henry Marsh
Virginia Democrats are raising hell after Republicans unexpectedly rammed a controversial redistricting bill through the state Senate on Monday, capitalizing on the absence of a Democratic lawmaker and civil rights leader who was in Washington for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration.
The Virginia Senate is currently split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, each occupying 20 seats in the legislative body. Democratic State Sen. Harry Marsh’s absence paved the way for passage of the previously unannounced legislation by a count of 20 votes to 19.
“The new redistricting map revises the districts created under the 2011 map,” writes Talking Points Memo’s Evan McMorris-Santoro, “and would take effect before the next state Senate elections in Virginia and would redraw district lines to maximize the number of safe GOP seats.”
According to the Associated Press:
After the measure was sprung on unsuspecting Democrats, its sponsor, Republican Sen. John Watkins of Powhatan, defended it as an effort to create another majority black Senate district. What he didn’t say is that it would create even more GOP-dominant districts.
The move apparently came as a surprise even to Virginia’s Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, who TPM described as “non-committal on the new maps,” possibly because of the power play’s problematic optics.
State Senator Marsh practiced civil rights law before his election as the first black mayor of Richmond, Va., and later as a six-term state senator.
Virginia Democrats are vowing to challenge the move in court, according to the Washington Post.
“We talk about the dangers of legislating on the fly. Well, this is the ultimate in danger,” Democrat Sen. Don McEachin reportedly said. “The public has no idea what we’re about to do adopting this substitute, nor would they know in the next three days that it would take for this bill to ultimately pass.”
McEachin also called the stunt “secretive and underhanded.”
*******
Ruth, SM: Me too. I have been thinking so much about you. Sending love…
Alex: What a nice surprise to see you on the blog. Yes, it has been awhile. My plan is to be there with all of you, and storm the gates. :) But I bet you’re tired of hearing that and seeing it go no where. I’m working on it. I HOPE all is good. Sending love…
Howie: Thanks for the bickering break :) – Love the alien tale.
Got to go - Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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January 29th, 2013 at 9:47 am
Hi Michelle:
Another typical and sneaky move on behalf of the GOP. I hope that Virginia Democrats challenge that move in court. The snakes in the grass pull another shady stunt, talk about being opportunistic.
I do hope that you enjoyed your Birthday!
Al
January 29th, 2013 at 9:55 am
The GOP is definitely at it again, Michelle.
To wit: Texas House Bill 649 introduced by Representative Strickland (R)) .
It was inspired by the Hobby Lobby case where that company was fined for denying contraception coverage to their employees because of the male president’s religious objections (suprise, surprise).
“When a business is being stressed nearly to the point of bankruptcy by punitive federal taxes, of course the state should give them relief,” Stickland said in the news release.[...] “The Obama administration’s mandate and their threats to bury Hobby Lobby with $1.3 million per day in tax penalties aren’t just unconstitutional, they’re unconscionable,” he said. “It is simply appalling that any business owner should have to choose between violating their religious convictions and watching their business be strangled by the strong arm of Federal mandates and taxation.”
Granted its not expected to survive if passed because of the illegality of thwarting federal law. But it’s another glaring example of a white male elected official trying to write laws to suppress women and the evolvement of our country. It’s anti-women, anti-family, and financially stupid.
“His plan proposes letting organizations like Hobby Lobby off the hook for state taxes up to the amount they owe in federal penalties. Since Hobby Lobby is estimated to owe a fine of $1.3 million a day (more, in a year, than it would be paying in state taxes), Hobby Lobby would get a pass on giving a single cent to the state of Texas.”
What generation/when will society finally vote these imbeciles out of office?!
/SB
January 29th, 2013 at 9:57 am
welcome back, Al
/SB
January 29th, 2013 at 6:45 pm
Howie your post on aliens always takes me a few days to digest because they are so powerful and full of facts I never thought about.
Thanks man, you are truly the man to go to for all things alien .
Lance
January 29th, 2013 at 7:01 pm
There goes the GOP ramming again, pretty descriptive adjective to use in the first sentence of the article, very telling, about content and where their heads are at in that party. Doing things by force always…I won’t even go into the secretive and underhanded part, that speaks for itself.
Lance, too true, takes me a day or two and a reread or two to get a handle on the detes, it’s so extraordinary in scope. I love it and think about the stories as I’m swirling through LA traffic, makes everything day-to-day seem inconsequential (in a good way). So I’ll say thank you to you, too, Howie, you are the man!
(I’ll say it again, I’m so happy you and Al are back!) – it would make my day to know of Anonz is alive and well, safe and enjoying life, anyone know that much, Ruth SM perhaps?
Luv, Zen Lill
January 29th, 2013 at 7:09 pm
//SB that is just more corporate welfare being supplied by the republicans. Not unlike sneaking in $500,000 dollars to Amherst in the debt ceiling bill.
January 29th, 2013 at 8:40 pm
Lance interesting observation. The half billion dollar benefit that was given to Amgen, Inc by exempting them from Medicare price controls for 2 years.
The members of the US Senate that got paid by Amgen to give them the break were Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). They plus lobbyists got a 20% commission or $100,000,000 dollars for their efforts.
The American tax payers got stuck with the bill.
Mike, TM
January 29th, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Hafa adai, the crooks are at it again. They have colluded with the power companies to raise the rates on Guam 8 to 9%.
Peter